Doctor Who_ Longest Day - Michael Collier [99]
The Kusk clambered heavily on to the platform and waited.
Sam turned excitedly back towards the others standing by the strange forest, just as a tremor suddenly rumbled through the landscape. Caught unawares, she fell-over backward to the ground. A few rocks fell to the ground near her sprawled body, and she staggered to her feet. She heard a roar of alarm from the cave and a sudden human cry of pain - Tanhith, too, had fallen backwards on to his mashed-up back, into the grove. The howl of pain became a staccato rattling, as the wounded man's cough echoed out like gunfire and the rumble of the tremor died away. She saw Crichter clamp a hand over Tanhith's mouth, and kick him in frustration when it did no good.
She ran back towards them and realised with sick dread that the creatures were following her.
Stuck with a dying man and Hopalong Cassidy and facing two bloodthirsty alien giants, Sam gritted her teeth and forbade herself to cry any more.
***
The technician had prodded the Doctor back towards the matter transmitter. The Time Lord yanked out his sonic screwdriver from one of his pockets, and held it against the components in the bag.
'Stop there. This device emits sonic wavelengths, enough to scramble the datacore irreparably.' The Kusk stopped its advance, and the Doctor smiled grimly. 'All you'll get from it is gibberish.'
'A useless threat, humanoid,' grated the technician.'That memory bank is empty. For now.'
The Doctor was taken aback.'What?'
'After its discovery by the seeker ship, the probe ceased external transmissions. A secondary probe, an inferior, lightweight signalling device, was constructed to track the original probe with the express purpose of draining its acquired knowledge while the computer held it stabilised. It located our probe way below in the planet's crust, and we could at last move in and complete reclamation to secure its knowledge.'
'You mean -'
The Leader strode over and knocked the sonic screwdriver from the Doctor's hand. 'The malfunctioning probe is still deep within Hirath,' he hissed. 'But with these circuits you have brought to us, we can now download the means to conquer untold civilisations throughout history.'
The Doctor's voice was hollow as the technician plucked the bag from his fingers. 'Of course,' he said sadly. 'The true prize.'
The Leader leaned down so that his face was opposite the Doctor's, and placed a hand round the humanoid's throat. 'Thank you for delivering it to us.'
***
Anstaar looked at the platform blankly. Then she noticed a scrap of paper lying next to it. Instructions.
A small tremor shook through the cave. Dead ahead outside, the orange lights were pushing through the warm mist towards her.
***
'Wait,' gasped the Doctor, choking.'I may be able to help with your computer. Buy more time, save those people -'
The Leader wasn't even watching him, staring instead at the technician as it connected the datacore to the central computer.
'Can the humanoid help?' inquired the Leader, scratching a talon down the Doctor's cheek, leaving a thin red stripe in its wake.
"The computer is beyond assistance. But the Prize was designed to download the information, bypassing the maenus chips, enabling -'
The Leader's voice broke over the technician's like a rock fall. 'I believe we can dispense with your services, Doctor,' it announced, squeezing harder at the Time Lord's throat.
***
Felbaac's ship screamed through the silence of space, one unfinished instruction left to carry out.
>>heat trace autopilot safe landing
***
The Leader's gloating face filling his vision, the Doctor felt consciousness slipping away.
***
>> safe landing
Felbaac was trying to remember if